Claudia Casado is a lifelong fan of Gimnasia y Esgrima La Plata, a football club in the city of La Plata in Argentina. Her daughter Mayra and her granddaughters, Katia and Mayte, are also fans of the club. They are pictured in Casado’s house in a poor neighbourhood, which is decked out in blue and white – the official colours of Gimnasia.
The fight for gender equality within sport really interests me. Clubs are generally considered to be dominated by men, but women have been occupying these spaces for many years, on and off the football field. Women’s football has grown over the past 10 years at a global level, but female players still face a struggle in terms of training, finding spaces to play, and earning a fair salary.
Female fans also do a tremendous amount of work that is only just starting to be recognised, in terms of maintaining stadiums, organising trips to matches, accompanying the team to different places, and carrying out work in the community – running soup kitchens, for example.
In Argentina, female football fans have a history of being sexualised. In the 1990s, the image of a female football fan was one of a woman with perfect curves. I wanted to show a real woman and how she lives with football in her daily life.
This photo represents what it is to be a fan of Gimnasia. I live in La Plata and for me, Gimnasia is family. Casado represents the neighbourhood and she is the head of a family with three generations of women who are football fans.
The photo is part of an exhibition, Cuerpas Reales, Hinchas Reales (Real Bodies, Real Fans), featuring photos by 78 female photographers from across Latin America. It is a celebration of female football fans and an empowering call for inclusion and diversity. As a collective, we want to show the different ways in which women enjoy and live their passion for football, while challenging gender stereotypes.
The exhibition has toured Argentina, Bolivia, Uruguay and Chile, and from 13-30 July is part of the 6th annual Latin American foto festival at the Bronx Documentary Center in New York. Erica Voget is an Argentinian photographer, follow her on Instagram
